RegWatchEurope (RWE) has published the results of a project examining European Commission’s Omnibus process to date. As part of the project RWE investigated the first six Omnibus packages, focusing on the application of Better Regulation principles on EU and national levels.
While RWE supports the overall objectives of simplification and burden reduction, it found that the Omnibus processes were not always sufficiently structured and transparent. No impact assessments have been carried out by the European Commission and only one national impact assessment was conducted in the seven Member States studied. EU level stakeholder consultations were not directly related to the Omnibus proposals and there have been no or few stakeholder consultations on national level. These deviations from generally agreed Better Regulation principles could lead to unintended impacts, which could counteract the overall objectives of the proposals. RWE recommends that a follow-up of each Omnibus package is carried out once it has been adopted and that ex post evaluations are conducted in due time. Impact assessments should always be performed at EU level and sufficient time should be given for proportionate impact assessments and consultations at national level. Finally, RWE recommends that the urgency criteria be more strictly defined and integrated in the Better Regulation system.
See here for the Opinion.